Kanye West’s Saint Pablo performance at the Inglewood forum was a ritualistic light show with a awkwardly dancing shadow on a floating stage. Not only was West over an hour late, the concert relied heavily on theatrics, taking much of the focus away from the music. The show wasn’t bad, in fact it was a grandiose display steeped in artificial fog with flashing lights and revolving monoliths. The blood orange spotlight shining down on West resembled the red hues on Marlin Brandos face in Apocalypse Now and any anthropologist in attendance will tell you, the whole thing resembled an ominous ceremony of worship, with West on a floating stage atop screaming fans as he danced awkwardly in strange jerks and weird leg movements, reminiscent of Drakes dancing in his 2016 “Hotline bling” music video.

The majority of music West performed was from his newest album “Saint Pablo,” there where throwback songs from his older catalogue peppered in, however the whole show revolved much around the spacey and bombastic beats featured in “Saint Pablo.” The set list was cherry picked for an ambient mood, with the occasional certified classic KanYe West banger to get the crowed hyped up.

As far as West’s performance, I personally doubt was he was at his best, having not seen one of his concerts before i cannot say it was his worst show. Although, perhaps since West is reaching the end of the “Saint Pablo” tour, the wear and tear of being on the road has West Fatigued, and is causing West to see the remaining shows of his tour as just another day on the job.

Even though the theatrics, music and general atmosphere wasn’t terrible, the show missed the mark, Its not even the fact that West was late, its that the show could have gone without the spinning stage lighting, thick fog, and laser beams. As a Kanye West fan I was expecting a bumping hip hop show, and not the hip hop artists rendition of “2001 A Space Odyssey.” The whole thing was kind of uncomfortable. Ill admit the floating stage was a neat spectacle, but paired with the ominous lighting it definitely gave “Yeezus” a cult-ish “worship me” vibe.

The uncomfortable feelings did not not stop there, because West decided that his “Saint Pablo” concert would be a good place to the show a home video of his wife Kim Kardashian growing up with her siblings. The fact that West chose to take time out of his concert, where people payed lots of money to see him perform music, to show his fans a youtube video just made me feel a little ripped off. Overall the show wasn’t terrible, but the high price left a lot to be desired.

Environmental science students at Rio Hondo are planting California-native and drought resistant plants in a garden which will introduce all of the Rio Hondo students and faculty to hillside planting. The plan has been in motion since 2006 when it was detailed in the Rio Hondo College Landscape Master Plan, which describes a “native plant garden” to be established on the southeast slope of the science building. However even though the plan was in motion, the project had to be postponed until the construction of the student services building finished. Upon completion of the construction, student interns and faculty worked to lay the foundation of the native plant and drought resistant garden. Now the native plant garden has evolved into a sprawling ecosystem with many plants,critters, and insects. While the environmental interns and the professors still maintain and facilitate the gardens growth.

Up until now the Native plant garden has been an impromptu secret among those who are familiar with the project. Upon examination of the area where the garden is supposed be, there is no indication of the garden actually being there. No signs, no visible way to get into the gardens path, just a few scattered pieces of trash, and not even a “please no littering” sign. Students by the garden when asked if they knew what it was supposed to be, had no idea of the gardens existence, even though they were standing in front of it. According to Biology professor Robert Bethel nobody knows about the project because it’s simply not finished yet. The hillside planting and maintenance is still a work in progress, the lack of resources in the environmental technology department is not helping the expedition of the project, and rather then put an unfinished project on display, it would be best to wait until the plan came to its full fruition.

However the lack of signs and could attribute to the amount of litter, perhaps if students where aware of the garden, they would be less apt to throw their trash in it.

The gardening is done mostly by faculty of the science department and student interns. However progress is waning because of the lack of interns able to help care for the garden. The garden sees its worst conditions in the summer, where perhaps due to the heat, very little students sign up for the native garden internship. Since fall is the best season to clean out weeds and plant new plants that could work on establishing a root system, it is imperative to the project that more interns sign up before the next dry summer.

Aside from the lack of interns able give time to tend to the garden, Another aspect that slows down progress is that native plants take a while to get established. While it is a common held believe that the majority of Southern California is a desert, the area that Rio Hondo College is located in would be better classified as a chaparral, which is a ecological community composed of shrubby plants that have adapted to moist winters and dry summers. Many plants native to California have deep root systems that need to be established when the plant is first introduced to the garden. That’s what makes the plant so drought resistant, dispersed roots through deep soil, when a deep root plant is in its baby stages, it relies greatly on watering while its roots steep into the soil. Despite the difficulty and tedious nature of planting native plants, plants native to California, are embedded into the states history. Plants like Manzanita, which is an evergreen shrub that has a dark bark with hues ranging from red-orange to ebony, their leaves were once used by Native Americans from Northern California as a treatment for poison oak rash. A native plant garden could serve as a window into the historical horticulture of California’s indigenous people and early settlers.

Students interested in the Native Plant Garden internship should enquire through professor Robert Bethel. The project could be a great introduction into the science of botany and for the rest of the student body remember to keep our campus clean, help out our garden by throwing trash away in the proper receptacle, and watch out for litter

Rio Hondo students are going to Spain! Undergraduate students have the opportunity to travel abroad to Barcelona Spain this spring to make progress towards their degrees.

Southern California Foothills Consortium for Study Abroad, a collective of colleges across California is in partnership with The American Institute for Foreign Study to allow Students from all over the state to enroll in overseas classes and receive transferrable general education credits. Students can also apply for financial aid and scholarships to help cover the cost. The programs classes and activities take advantage of the international location, and according to the Rio Hondo study abroad homepage, “Students gain an invaluable multi-cultural experience by living and learning outside the United States.

The programs Brochure details some classes and activities students can attend. Classes like HUM 127-Spanish Civilization, which the brochure states, “provides an interdisciplinary global understanding of the culture and history of Spain.” Students attending the trip will also be able to tour the city, and will receive a pass that allows admittance to six major art museums.

The final day to enroll is November 18th, students attending will be departing February 16th, and returning to the United States May 13th. Based on an enrollment of 45 or more participants, the fee per person is 7,825 dollars with a 250 dollar refundable accident deposit.

The program is ran through Citrus College in Glendora, however Rio Hondo College has personnel at Citrus to aid Rio Hondo Students with the process. For more information, contact the Study Abroad Coordinator, Dr. Adam Westman (awetsman@riohondo.edu). Office hours are held in the science building room 320f Tuesday and Thursday’s from 8:00-9:30 AM. Interested students could also find more information by contacting the Department of Behavioral Sciences, located in the Administration building room 221. (562/908-3429)